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O2 and HTC to sell phone without a charger, does it matter? [poll]

UK mobile provider O2 is teaming up with HTC to start selling an unnamed, announced phone that comes without a charger in the box. The device will be released sometime by the end of this year. The idea here is to help save the planet by reducing the number of chargers circulated.

With Micro-USB as a standard, almost every mobile user out there has at least one charger. O2 and HTC feel that including extra charging devices is just a waste of money and resources, in most cases. O2 claims that 70 percent of customers who buy a handset from them already have a charger that will work with just about any new phone they release.

The HTC phone’s packaging will simply include the phone, the manual and a micro-USB cord. For those that need a charger, the company will sell it separately. Even if you don’t have a charger that will work, the handset will charge through a PC USB port without issue.

This is just the beginning for O2. HTC is the only brand that currently agrees to remove the charger from the box, but the company soon hopes to make this practice standard with all of their offerings. O2 is billing this move as a green one, though some conspiracy theorists probably believe this as nothing more than a way to make extra money by selling chargers separately. They may or may not be right.

Meanwhile, check out our poll and tell us how you feel about such initiatives!

Andrew is one of the three Managing Editors of Android Authority, primarily responsible for the overseeing of US team of writers, in addition to several other projects such as VR Source and more. He loves tech, gaming, his family, and good conversations with like-minded folks.